


Coping Strategies

by thesoulofchaos



Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 05:05:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17277614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesoulofchaos/pseuds/thesoulofchaos
Summary: Written for 2018's, 12 Days of Christmas Challenge





	Coping Strategies

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 2018's, 12 Days of Christmas Challenge

“He’s in the garage”, Alan answered Don’s question before he even got the first question out and Don shrugged his jacket off and hung it on the back of the chair.

“Is he…”, Don started, and Alan raised an eyebrow over his coffee.

“Currently working on the statistical probability of him being hit by a bullet in a wide range of scenarios”, Alan replied, and he pushed the cafetiere towards Don.

“What? And you just let him?”, Don asked as he started to walk over towards the back door.

“You know your brother Don”, Alan called, only adding the final bit once the back door slammed shut, “Nothing deters his stubborn backside once he’s got his mind set on something, must be a family trait”.

 

Don yanked open the door to the garage and stared at the whiteboards and sheets of paper, all covered in numbers and trajectory diagrams. Charlie stood in the middle of the garage, with his hands clenched together, tapping them lightly against his chin.

“Charlie, you promised not to do this”, Don reached for the closest piece of paper, and Charlie’s arm snapped out to stop him.

“No, you browbeat me into putting projects like this on the backburner”, Charlie replied, “I need this”.

“No, you don’t”, Don reached for the paper again and sighed as Charlie batted him away, “because you get like this!”.

“But I need to get like this, and I know you don’t get that, but this is what I need to make it all make sense Don”, Charlie got up and put his body between Don and the paper.

“What you need is help”, Don replied, and he felt guilty as soon as the words left his mouth, though he knew damn well he wouldn’t follow up with an apology.

“This helps”, Charlie gestured at the papers and the whiteboards, “this makes it real, this helps me to understand why I am stood here, alive, when on a different day I would never have left that sidewalk. You don’t get to pull me into things and then push me away when you don’t like my coping strategies”.

Don wanted to say so many things, to throw so many arguments at Charlie that he wouldn’t be  _ able _ to dispute them all but he just bit his tongue and took a long, slow breath in, then out.

“You’re right, and I need help on a case”, Don said, “So I’m going back into the house with dad for now, until you’re ready”.

Charlie grabbed a timer off of the side and turned a dial, “Just give me five more minutes”.

Don sloped back to the house, took a seat in the chair beside his father, and accepted the coffee silently.

Alan clapped him on the shoulder, “He’s a grown man, and someday we’ve got to trust him to make the right choices about this stuff”.  


Don wasn't sure it was all that simple.


End file.
